Editing Black Speech (section)

=== Comparison with Elvish languages ===

The Swedish linguist Nils-Lennart Johannesson compared the phonology and syllable structure of the Black Speech with those of [[Elvish languages of Middle-earth|Tolkien's two major Elvish languages]], [[Quenya]] and [[Sindarin]]. He found that there were more [[sonorant]] sounds and more [[open syllable]]s in Elvish than in either English or Black Speech. He stated that these consistent differences were "sufficiently prominent" to make Elvish sound "pleasant and harmonious", whereas Black Speech sounded "harsh and strident".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Johannesson |first=Nils-Lennart |title=Quenya, the Black Speech and the Sonority Scale |journal=Proceedings of the First International Conference on J.R.R. Tolkien's Invented Languages Omentielva Minya |date=2007 |pages=14–21 |url=https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A184607&dswid=9454}}</ref>

M. G. Meile, labelling the Black Speech as "Sauron's [[Newspeak]]" by analogy with [[George Orwell]]'s dystopian language, noted that it was "doubly artificial": where the Elvish languages were Tolkien's invention, the Black Speech was also a constructed language in his invented Middle-earth, since it had been created by the Dark Lord Sauron as an "evil [[Esperanto]]" for his slaves. He stated that as the only language of this type in Middle-earth, this made the Black Speech more important than it would appear from the few words Tolkien defined for it. Further, Tolkien wrote that it was made in mockery of Quenya, in other words that it was an evil language shadowing "the linguistic embodiment of good", and indeed, Meile wrote, it had many correspondences with Quenya. For instance, the word for [[Orc]]s, the monsters made in mockery of the Elves, is Quenya "urco, orco", which becomes Black Speech "Uruk".<ref>{{cite book |last=Meile |first=M. G. |chapter=Sauron's Newspeak: Black Speech, Quenya, and the nature of mind |title=Semiotics around the World: Synthesis in Diversity |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |year=2020 |orig-year=1996 |pages=219–222 |doi=10.1515/9783110820065-030|isbn=9783110820065 }}</ref>

The linguist Joanna Podhorodecka examines the ''lámatyáve'', a [[Quenya]] term for "phonetic fitness", of Tolkien's constructed languages. She analyses them in light of {{ill|Iván Fónagy|hu|Fónagy Iván}}'s theory of symbolic vocal gestures that convey emotions. She notes that Tolkien's inspiration was "primarily linguistic"; and that he had invented the stories "to provide a world for the languages", which in turn were "agreeable to [his] personal aesthetic". She compares two samples of Elvish (one Sindarin, one Quenya) and one of Black Speech, tabulating the proportions of [[vowel]]s and [[consonant]]s. The Black Speech is 63% consonants, compared to the Elvish samples' 52% and 55%. Among other features, [[front vowel]] sounds like {{IPA|/i/}} (like the ''i'' in ''machine'') are much rarer in Black Speech than in Elvish, while [[back vowel]] sounds like {{IPA|/u/}} (like the ''u'' in ''brute'') are much more common. Podhorodecka therefore comments that the [[phonology]] of Black Speech is similar to speech affected by aggressive emotions, which has a higher proportion of consonants (especially [[plosive]]s) to vowels. She concludes that Tolkien's constructed languages were certainly individual to him, but that their "linguistic patterns resulted from his keen sense of phonetic metaphor", so that the languages subtly contribute to the "[[Aesthetics|aesthetic]] and [[Axiology|axiological]] aspects of his mythology".<ref>{{cite book |last=Podhorodecka |first=Joanna |year=2007 |chapter=Is ''lámatyáve'' a linguistic heresy. Iconicity in J. R. R. Tolkien's invented languages |editor1-last=Tabakowska |editor1-first=Elżbieta |editor2=Ljungberg, Christina |editor3=Fischer, Olga |title=Insistent Images. Iconicity in language and literature. Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium in Language and Literature |pages=103–110 |location=Amsterdam/Philadelphia |publisher=[[John Benjamins Publishing Company|John Benjamins]] |isbn=978-9027243416 |url=https://www.academia.edu/19105666}}</ref>